Sunsets and Ice Cream
by UnVeRsEd
Summary: That was the end of my summer vacation - parole's over, time to go back to jail. I guess it'll be just like any other year... or will it? AU Highschool, but with a twist. Pairings? You'll find out on your own. Rated for swearing.
1. Prologue : That one day

**~ Sunsets and Ice Cream **

**Prologue : That one day…**

"Why are you such an _asshole_?!"

"Why don't you just drop it and run like every _other_ weakling in this town?"

I take a deep breath; I _really_ don't need to be fighting Seifer right now. I don't wanna sink down to his level. Who wants to be known as the biggest d*ckhead in school, anyway? Oh wait. He does.

As I reach down to help Hayner off the floor, I see the fight wasn't _too_ bad; a couple dark bruises, but he's gonna be fine. But that doesn't matter – Seifer still beat up my best friend. "Because," I say, purposely speaking slowly as if I was talking to a little kid – and I swear, it feels like I am sometimes – "you can't seem to get it through your thick skull that you can't just _beat people up_ just because you _feel_ like it."

Hayner shoots a murderous glare at Seifer, then mouths a grateful 'thank you' and backs away from me and the senior, towards the rest our friends. I look around; some of the other kids were watching us. Guess we were a bit TOO loud... so much for being subtle.

Seifer crosses his arms with that annoying grin of his plastered on his smug face. "It seems to me like you want a repeat of last year, runt." He mocks. I really don't want to remember that, my head hurts just _thinking_ about it.

I roll my eyes. "I'm not here to fight you, Seifer. I'm just trying to ask you nicely. Stop bugging my friends."

"Why should I?" he snorts.

Ok, now he's _really_ pissing me off. I'm not gonna take the bait, though. Last thing I need is to get into another fight with him.

"Because," I hear myself blurt, "it's wrong." _Wow_. Nice one. I just helped myself look like a complete idiot.

Seifer just laughs. "Is that the best you can come up with, loser?"

I clench my fists. This guy's really getting on my nerves... I am SO ready to–

"Roxas!" I hear someone call.

I automatically turn around at the voice – _whoa,_ where'd that mob come from? I can see my brother pushing his way through the crowd towards me – that's Sora for ya; always trying to be the peacemaker – and into the circle. He grabs me by the arm and hisses, "Come on, Roxas, we'll be late for class," and starts trying to pull me away from the now-laughing senior. What's that guy's _problem_? There's nothing funny about this at all, what's he _laughing_ at?

"Sure Roxas, let your gay little brother drag you off to class!"

The both of us freeze mid-step, and a few bystanders gasp; a murmur makes its way through the crowd.

Sora turns to look back at Seifer, the hurt showing clearly in his eyes. He hates that nickname. It's something Seifer and his idiot friends labeled him with in junior high, and it's stuck ever since. Being his brother, I would know; Sora's perfectly straight. He even has a f*cking _girlfriend_! Being upbeat and optimistic – not to mention hyper – doesn't mean you're automatically gay. It's just the way he is!

I carefully take Sora's hand off my arm, and slowly turn to face the upperclassman. "_What_ did you just say?" I ask him, putting as much venom into the question as I possibly can. Seifer's smug grin falters, then comes back a split second later.

Then, I hear it. Every principal's worst nightmare:

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Holy _crap – _I never saw the crowd get so big. They're packed so tightly together that there's no place for me to run – not that I want to, anyway.

I take a step towards the *sshole and repeat my question. "_What. Did. You. Call. Him!?_"

Seifer leans forward, and drawls, "I said, _gay, little_ broth—_ack_!"

I wasn't letting him finish that. An involuntary grin spreads across my face as my fist impacts his ugly mug with a satisfying '_crunch!._' The crowd around me erupts into riotous cheering and yelling – some cheering for me, others for the jerk I just slugged. The never ending chant of "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" continues in the background.

Seifer reels back, a hand over his nose. "That's _it_. You asked for it, _runt_!" he yells, his voice sounding a little off. He cracks his knuckles as he rushes at me – prob'ly just trying to scare me. As I sidestep his punch, I see a small trickle of blood coming from his nose. Ha! Serves him right.

I stick my foot out as he barrels past me, tripping him; He nearly falls flat on his face, but manages to stop himself before smashing his face on the tile floor. As he gets up, I start hearing my friends in the crowd.

"Be careful!"

"It's not worth it!"

"Roxas, cut it out!"

It's already too late to try talking me out of this one. Seifer can diss _me_ all he wants, but I'm not about to let him drag my friends _or_ my brother into this.

Wait, where'd he go?!

Fuck! He'd snuck up on me when I wasn't looking.

He throws me backwards against a row of lockers, my back hitting the metal surface with a loud '_bang_!'. Holy _sh*t_, that hurt!

I push myself off the lockers, seeing stars. I can feel a lump forming where the back of my head slammed against one of the door handles; I manage to stop myself from making a face at the pain – no need to feed the flames. Over the blood roaring in my ears, I can still hear the cheering; sounds like there are more people cheering for me now. I am _so_ ready for anything he can dish out.

Her voice cuts through the crowd, standing out above all the noise; "ROXAS!"

I turn toward her, completely forgetting the fight. Sure enough, there she is, standing at the edge of the circle. She stares at me, her eyes practically begging me to just walk away.

I start towards her. "Xion–!"

I never see him coming – Seifer slams his fist into the side of the head with the force of a small battering ram, sending me crashing into the wall of spectators. My vision's fuzzy and my balance is gone – only thing I can hear is the crowd roaring. I can barely hear anything above the calls of outrage and support, but I can still hear pitched squeal from _her_...

Damnit, Roxas, you should've been paying attention!

The students I was thrown into push me up, almost throwing me back into the fight. My head's pounding and I can barely see, let alone stand; I don't know how I stayed on my feet.

"Stop it, Seifer!!" I hear her cry.

Out of nowhere, I hear a loud 'bang!', like something heavy hitting metal – hard – and a feminine yelp, then a muffled thud. The mob roars again; only this time, it was obviously in rage.

I can finally see again, and I blink as I try to take in the scene before me. Seifer's just standing there, staring openmouthed at something on the ground. He glances at me, then looks back at the person trying to pick herself off the ground, his expression showing nothing but shock.

I look at the person and can't hold back a gasp; Xion's trying to pick herself off the floor, a pained grimace contorting her usually happy features. She looks up at me, and her expression feels like someone's putting my insides through a blender; she wants me to stop. She shakes her head ever so slightly. 'Just walk away,' she looks like she's saying.

I glare spears and daggers at Seifer, who was looking like he has no idea what just happened.

He hurt Xion.

He is _so. F*cking. Dead._

**~o~oOo~o~**

**A/N: HOOOOOOOOOOOOO SNAP. What'll** **be the outcome of this fight? Who will win? read the next chapter to find out!! :D**

**THANK YOU TO SPARKLY FAERIE FOR BETA-READING THIS!!**


	2. How it all started

**A/N: HEY GUYS!!!! UnVeRsEd here :D This isn't my first fanfic, but I finally got to uploading one after deleting my terribly terrible old ones . . . . . so yeah, enjoy!! **

_**IF YOU READ THE FIRST CHAPTER BEFORE THIS WAS POSTED, GO RE-READ IT. I HAVE EDITED IT HEAVILY. Plzthnx :D**_

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS. If I did, certain things that happened in KH:358/2 Days would NOT have happened. Not spoiling for anyone who hasn't played it yet ._.**

**WARNING: LONG CHAPTER. Footnotes at the bottom :P **

**~o~oOo~o~**

A _whole week_.

That's how long I'm going to be stuck in here, and it's all because of that asshole Seifer.

He just _had_ to bring Sora into all this. Now, I'm stuck in my room, staring at the ceiling, _suspended_. SUSPENDED!! It's HIS FAULT, why am _I_ here?!

Well... I kinda _did_ hit him back.... a lot.... But.... he hurt Xion, he deserved it!

Xion.... Man, she hasn't even left yet and I miss her already!!

I wish her parents weren't making her move.... _again_....... She hasn't even been here for a year, why are they leaving again?

Why did I let Seifer get to me? Why didn't I just walk away?

...Because seeing her hurt stabbed at my heart. Because that pleading look in her eyes sparked something in me.

...Heheh. I think I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

~O~

Only one more day 'till summer ended.

My friends and I just did what we always did: met up at the Usual Spot and shared one last round of summer ice cream. Tomorrow would be spent making sure we had all our summer homework done and getting enough sleep so we wouldn't doze off in the middle of class. We all knew it was gonna happen anyways, but it didn't hurt to try, right?

But no one really cared that day. It was just the four of us, like it had always been: laughing our last few hours of freedom away, munching on tasty sea-salt ice cream.

"Oh my GAWWWWD," my best friend groaned, collapsing into the couch next to me. "School starts in less than two days!!"

I patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, be glad you still have another day, Hayner," I said, grinning, "otherwise you'd be screwed." I took a big bite out of my ice cream, cringing at how cold it was.

"No kidding!" he replied, grinning right back. Hayner's my best friend. We've known each other since elementary school, and been buddies ever since.

"Hey, hey, let's PLEEEEEEASE not talk about school? I mean, Yay, we're not freshmen anymore, but YOU-KNOW-WHO's a _senior_ now!" a black-haired boy added. I've known Pence almost as long as I've known Hayner, and we're really good buddies. He's the humor guy, the comic relief. Makes you laugh at the most random times, you know?

"I hope you're not talking about Seifer and his cronies," a brown-haired girl whined. Olette was one of my few girl-friends. NO, not girlfriend, just a _girl_ who is a _friend_... Yeesh. People like to confuse that. Olette's the reasonable... person. She makes sure we don't get TOO far out of line... Put some emphasis on "too."

"They're _exactly_ who I'm talking about!!" Pence confirmed, pointing his ice cream at Olette. "They're gonna make school a living _nightmare_ for us!"

"Not to mention everyone else!!" Hayner added, angrily biting off a piece of ice cream.

"We'll just have to avoid them," I started, "hopefully if they don't see us they'll leave us alone..." Yay, optimistic me! Don't expect that to happen too often.

"I think sea salt ice cream'll rain from the _sky_ before Seifer Almasy decides to _not_ be a total jerk-face," Hayner said, pointing his ice cream at the sky dramatically.

We just laughed. It simple pleasures like this that had brought the four of us so close. Hopefully we'll stay like this for a long time...

Suddenly, the bells of the clock tower began to chime. Bonng. . . Bonng. . . Bonng. . . Bonng. . . Bonng. . . Bonng. . . Six 'o Clock.

Olette gasped and suddenly stood up, making the rest of us jump. "OH MY GOSH, I'M LATE!!" she exclaimed, reaching for her purse.

"Where're you going?" I asked while Olette scrambled to the exit.

"Girl thing!" was her ambiguous reply as she dashed through the curtains, out to the alley and headed to... wherever it is she's headed.

So Hayner, Pence and I stayed for around a couple more hours, thinking of ways we could get back at Seifer for all the crap he's put us through; then, the clock tower bells went off again and announced it was seven o' clock.

"Whoops! Time to head home!" Hayner announced, "before Mom kills me..."

"Yeah, we don't want THAT happening again," Pence laughed.

"See ya, guys!" I said, waving at my friends. I tossed my ice cream stick into a garbage can, but after a few steps I realized I hadn't checked to see if it was a "winner."

Oh well. Maybe next time.

~~o~oOo~o~~

I can't believe that _jerk_.

He just _had_ to start a fight, didn't he? And now I'm moving, _again_, and I don't even get to see Roxas before I leave. The universe must hate me or something, nothing good ever happens to me. Well, it kinda happens, but... it never ends well.

This was the first time I had ever felt that way about someone else, and now I don't even get a chance to see where it could go.

All I'm doing now is packing my clothes. We're leaving tomorrow.

I don't want to go.

I haven't seen him for barely a week and I already miss him. How would I be able to take being away for a year, or more??

...Or more...

I can't even stand thinking about it. Sometimes I wish my parents hadn't moved back to Twilight Town; that way I would never had seen him again, and we never would've had to go through this.

It had all started with a phone call to my best friend.

"I'm coming home."

~O~

Two words came to mind as I walked up to Kairi's door: "Oh boy."

Mom had already waved goodbye and driven off; it was just me now. There was excited chatter coming from inside. I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door; the talking immediately stopped. The door cracked open, and a violet-blue eye peeked out. "Xion?"

"Yeah," I sighed, cracking a smile. The door flew open and a red-haired girl practically flew out, attacking me with a hug.

"XION!!" Kairi exclaimed, nearly crushing me with her hug. "OH MY GOSH, YOU'RE REALLY HERE!!"

"Wh-what did you think, I was kidding?" I choked out, dropping my bag and hugging her back. Kairi was one of my best friends when I lived here, and even when I moved away we still talked as much as we could.

"I'm just sooooo happy!!" she said, letting go of me. "Come on, everyone else is waiting!" I picked up my bag, and Kairi grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me into her house.

I was greeted by a bunch of girls, all of whom I recognized. First was Selphie, who practically squealed with joy when she saw me. Next to her was Olette—I'm surprised those two aren't related, they look so much alike—who just smiled at me. "Hi guys!" I called. "Missed me?"

"You BET we did!!" Selphie exclaimed, practically glomping me. Yes, glomped. Before I could hug her back, Olette had joined in the hug too. I drop my bag _again_ and hug both of them, all of us laughing for no apparent reason.

After they let go, I looked around; someone was missing.

"Where's Nami?" I asked, searching the living room for my blonde cousin. I saw a pale hand wave from a couch, and I grinned. Naminé might be my cousin, but she's my best friend too. When I lived here, we were practically inseparable. I walked over towards the couch and plunked down next to her, and wrapped her in a hug. She laughed and hugged back. "It's good to see you, Xion," she said.

"Same here," I said, letting her go. I noticed a sketchbook on Naminé's lap. "Drawing something?"

"Not yet," she said.

Surely enough, the page was blank.

~o~

"OMIGAWSH I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M GOING TO _HIGH SCHOOL_!" Selphie squealed, bouncing up and down on her sleeping bag. "This is sooooooooooooooo exciting!!"

The rest of us had given up on sleep hours ago. Selphie and Kairi were WAY too excited to rest, and apparently that meant the rest of us had to stay up too.

"Yeahhh…" I sighed, falling forwards onto my sleeping bag. School? Exciting? Ha. Ha ha ha.

Selphie tilts her head to one side and asked, "You don't look excited."

"To be honest, I'm not," I admitted, rolling onto my back. "We were eighth-graders, the oldest and most respected kids in the school. Now we're back to the bottom, you know?"

"You're such a pessimist sometimes, Xi…" Kairi whined. [1]

"Hey, if high school's just junior high with harder classes and bigger bullies, I'm not seeing myself having much fun."

Silence. I am SUCH a party pooper.

"What about boys?" Olette blurted out. I sat up in surprise.

"Where did THAT come from?" Kairi inquired.

"Uhh… just trying to start conversation…" she said, becoming shifty-eyed.

"Has Sora said anything to you yet, Kairi?" Naminé asked, looking up from her sketchbook.

"Not yet," Kairi sighed sadly. "Sometimes I wonder if he even likes me or not."

"Hey Kairi, I know for a _fact _that Sora likes you. I heard him confess to Riku!" Olette encouraged.

"Speaking of Riku," Selphie interrupted, "do you think he still likes you Xion?"

I shook my head. "Naah, I ran into him before I came here. I guess he let it go since I was gone so long."

"Aww," was everyone else's collective response.

"Oh, don't be like that you guys; you know I've never been into relationships anyway…"

I wasn't lying when I told them that. I'd seen too many broken hearts to be interested. I mean, there's no reason to put yourself through all that torture, right?

"High school might change that, though!!" Selphie said in singsong, grinning absurdly. I just groaned and fell back onto my sleeping bag, but not before throwing my pillow at her.

Naminé laughed her quiet little laugh, and said, "I think Xi's all done with this topic."

We all laughed. It was right there when I realized how much I had really missed my friends.

I couldn't sleep that night, even after everyone else had. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, one thought running through my head.

_I hope I don't have to move again._

**~o~oOo~o~**

**BTW, thanks to xXlil'eveXx, aaaa2636, Shino159, Tanuokami, and SoulNinjas for reviewing!!**

**AND THERE YOU HAVE IT! Wow, this chapter's kinda HUGE O_O then next chapter might be longer, though, so be expecting that. XD**

**[1]: "Xi" is pronounced "She" as in "She-own," which is how you pronounce "Xion." /End rant.**


	3. Welcome to Prison : Reunion

**Author's Note: HOLY COW I totally forgot to update this. Wowwwwww. Sorry, but school decided to eat up all my time. My current classes are easier now, though, so expect faster updates! :D**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts nor any of the characters mentioned here. Except for one of the teachers. Heheh. **

**~o~oOo~o~**

That was the end of my summer vacation – parole's over, we're back in jail. Don't think I'm being overdramatic, if you've ever seen my school, you'd agree with me; it seriously looks like a prison.

Ven had to give Sora and me a ride to school since the bus decided to ditch us. I could tell he wasn't happy, since he was grumbling the whole way. Maybe he forgot his coffee. Or maybe it was because Sora wouldn't shut up about school. I dunno.

ANYWAYS, yeah, new school year. Twilight High – such a creative name. At least it's not a private school; I'd hate having to wear a uniform. Yeeeeeeesh.

Ven dropped us off at school and went to work – something in law enforcement I _think_, he doesn't talk about it too much – and we just went up the front steps and into the school and towards our lockers, just like we did every year. Being the twins we are, our lockers were right next to each other (though if that's a good or bad thing, I'm still not sure…). Sora had English first block, so he headed off to the second floor. I hung my messenger bag in my locker and pulled out a notebook and a pencil, since I didn't have any books to carry yet, and slammed it closed. I pulled out my schedule – Geometry, room F127. _Fuuuuuun._

On my way to class, I ran into Sora's other half, a redhead named Kairi Uchida. It turns out she was in my math class, so we walked and talked until we got to class, grabbed a textbook from the huge stack in the front of the room, and took our seats. We sat somewhere in the middle, with Kairi sitting behind me.

Our teacher, Mr. Tenshi, is a really nice guy, but he likes to rant – a lot – so we ended up staring at the ceiling for an hour while he "explained" the rules and expectations for his class. Blah, blah, blah, yeah, we knew this already.

About half an hour into the rant, I felt something pointed poke me in my back. I looked over my shoulder and saw a folded-up piece of paper blocking my vision. I took the paper and raised an eyebrow at her; she just rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand for me to read it. I turned back around and unfolded the note, wondering what kind of silly gossip she was trying to tell me about _this_ time. There was one line written on the page in her loopy handwriting:

_Did you hear? Xion's back!_

My first reaction was "Wait—WHAT?!" I scribbled my reply, _Really?! Since when??_, and held it back far enough so that Kairi could reach it. I felt her pluck the note out of my hand and heard her unfold it, and after a few seconds, she scribbled down her answer and poked me in the back again. Her reply was, _Yeah, really! Officially since yesterday!_

_Why didn't anyone tell me?_

_I only found out a week ago :(_

_Why didn't YOU tell anyone? :(_

_She wanted me to keep it a secret ;)_

…_Why? :/_

_Why not? :)_

_I'll never understand girls…_

_;D_

_X(_

And _then_ we started a smiley war. Don't ask how, we just did.

After about ten minutes of _that_, Mr. Tenshi stopped ranting and gave us the rest of the class to do whatever we wanted, so I turned and sat backwards on my chair to face Kairi, resting my head on the back of it. "So…" I started.

"Yup," Kairi replied, answering some unasked question. "Xion's back, ohmygoshI'msoHAPPY!" she squealed, the last few words melting into one huge word.

"Jeez, slow down Kairi! I should be more excited than you!" I laughed. Xion had been my best friend for as long as I could remember – at least, until she had moved. Our trio turned into a duo that summer…

Apparently Kairi remembered this, because she nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know. But it's been _three years!_"

"_I know_, Kairi, I know," I told her, grinning. "Do you know any of her classes?"

"Now you're sounding like a stalker," she joked, earning herself an eyeroll, "But no, I don't know. She was really hushed up about it."

"Huh. Weird…"

"If it's any help, she was asking if I knew _your_ schedule."

"Oh? Well. Looks like she _is _looking for me, then."

"Is that hope I hear in your voice?"

Just then, the bell rang, so I got up and stuck my tongue out at Kairi, and left the classroom, new textbook in tow. I checked my schedule again – Chemistry. Whoohoo.

Okay, that's enough sarcasm for today.

When I stopped by my locker, I saw Seifer and his minions, Fuu and Rai. They were busy harassing some freshmen by holding their stolen schedules over their heads, forcing them to jump to try to recover them from the laughing seniors. Jerks. I _would've _gone over there and told them off, if it wasn't because Seifer could – and _would_ – beat the living crap out of me. Again.

Before I left for class, though, I saw one of the deans, Mr. Ikeda, come around the corner and glare daggers at the three of them. I wish you could've seen them; they literally dropped the schedules and ran! Well, Seifer and Rai did, Fuu just sighed and shook her head before walking after them. Mr. Ikeda's kind of scary like that, even if he _does_ have long… _pink_… hair.

Yyyyyyeah. His eyes are freaky though, they're like a _hawk._

**~O~**

So I figured out that Chemistry happened to be all the way up on the third floor, so I had to walk_ across_ the school and up two flights of stairs to get to G325.

I _hate_ stairs.

I walked into the clean-smelling classroom and looked around for familiar faces – and I saw that familiar shock of red hair.

"AXEL?!"

He looked like he flinched in his seat when he heard his name, and he turned around to face me. "Aw, _man!_ Here I thought no one'd find out!" Axel literally facepalmed before continuing, "I'm_ never_ gonna live this one down…"

I put my books down on the lab table next to his, since the seat next to him was taken by some orange-haired kid, and approached him. "Axel, why are you in _chem?_" I asked him, "Isn't this a sophomore class…?"

"Yeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…." he said, looking around shifty-eyed.

"So… why are you here?" I inquired, crossing my arms.

"Because I failed again last year."

"Let me guess… you set the lab on fire _again?_"

"How'd you guess?" he asked, grinning. Axel always reminds me of a cat when he grins… that one cat from that one movie with the rabbit and the hole… The Chester cat? Can't remember.

"Oh," I replied, nodding slowly, "_that_ was why the fire alarms went off last year…"

"Shut up, Roxas!" he snapped, and shoved me away when I started laughing, and I bumped the desk behind me.

"Jeez, Roxas!" I heard someone say.

"Sorry, Sora!" I replied without looking back. I'd know his voice anywhere. My twin shoved me off the desk, but I managed not to crash into Axel's. Axel snickered and Sora stuck his tongue out at me; I was just about to return the favor when a loud "AHEM" caused everyone to look up at the front of the classroom.

First thing I saw was a pair of emerald-green eyes glaring at me from the front of the room. The teacher's eye twitched slightly, and I slowly slunk my way over to my seat next to Sora, never taking my eyes off the frightening teacher. Said teacher harrumphed in a way that said "Yeah, you'd better listen to me because I'm so much more important than you," then turned his attention to a sheet in his hand, examining it carefully as if it was some kind of complicated recipe or something.

I swear, this guy looks like a mad scientist. I mean, what _normal_ teacher wears a white lab coat and has long hair?

He started calling out names in a really snooty voice, checking off names as students replied. After he was done, he set the paper down on his desk and cleared his throat loudly, introducing himself as our teacher, "Mr. Prince! Known by some others as the Chilly Academic." Yeah, he has a title. He _must_ be crazy.

As Mr. Prince continued rambling about his "exceptional education and remarkable scientific discoveries," Sora leaned over towards me and whispered, "This guy certainly is vexing_._"

"Sora, don't try using big words, you only make yourself sound stupider," I whispered back, a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth.

"You have to admit, that was a good one."

"Almost as good as when you _expunged _that answer from your notebook."

"That one works too!" Sora whined a little too loudly – prompting a much louder response from the teacher: "SORA AND ROXAS IRINO, BE _SILENT!_"

I'm not gonna lie, Sora and I jumped about a foot off our seats when he yelled – screamed? Screeched? – at us. I think Sora even yelped a bit. The whole front of the class had turned to look at us, and I could hear Axel snickering somewhere to my left. I _wanted_ to glare at him, but Mr. Prince's glare had frozen Sora and I in place.

After a few seconds, Sora managed to squeak out a weak "Y-yes sir?," at which the teacher snorted and said, "You will be _silent_ when I am speaking, or you will both receive detention. Am I understood?"

Not wanting to be the objects of attention anymore, we both nodded quickly, and waited until Mr. Scary Scientist had turned around so we could relax. I slumped down in my seat, while Sora plunked his head down loudly on the desk, earning himself a disapproving frown from creeper-teacher.

The bell rang after another hour of cowering in fear, and Sora and I almost literally bolted from the classroom. We wanted to get as _far away_ from that guy as we could. We ended up separating later on, since Sora had to go in a different direction for his class. I checked my schedule – English, F217. Back to the other side of the school. GREAT.

**~O~**

I was already getting tired of running all over the school, and Mr. Prince managed to give me a massive headache, so when I got to the History classroom, I sat down in the first desk I saw and collapsed onto it. I stayed there for a while, listening to other students walking in. I heard someone sit in the desk next to me, but I didn't respond until she spoke.

"Tired already, Roxas?"

I turned my head to face Naminé Martinne, smiling slightly. "Is it really that obvious, Naminé?"

"It kind of is," she laughed. I loved that laugh. Made me smile every time I heard it. Whoops, getting off topic.

I feebly stuck my tongue out at her, prompting another laugh. She was, however, cut off by the teacher introducing himself – he was apparently named "Sebastian," and had a heavy Jamaican accent, so he "tawked laik dis all de tyme." I was too busy staring at Naminé to really care, though. Looking back, I _seriously_ liked Naminé. She was a really kind person, smart, an amazing artist, and to top it all off, she was pretty.

Please hit me before I get on a rant.

Before I knew it, the lunch bell rang. Our schedule's kinda weird, and third block lasts half an hour longer and is split into four. I guess it's because of how many people go to this school, but I'm not sure. Naminé and I have B lunch, so we spend half an hour in class, half an hour for lunch, then go back to class for another hour. Weird, I know.

Anyways, Naminé and I walked to lunch together, discussing teachers and classes and stuff like that. The lunchroom is huge; the ceiling's really high up and sort of like a skylight, so it's always lit in there. We found ourselves an empty table, and Naminé stood up on one of the seats so she could see over people's heads – Naminé wasn't very tall – and find some of our friends. She saw Kairi across the lunchroom and waved her over, but as Kairi made her way towards us, Naminé was surprised by a tap on the shoulder from Mr. Downes, another one of the deans. When she turned around, he raised an eyebrow at her and said, "I do hope you know that you can fall off there," with a slight British accent.

Naminé hopped off the seat and smiled apologetically at the adult, slightly embarrassed. Mr. Downes' moustache twitched, and he smiled. "Make sure you think twice next time before you tempt fate that way again," he said cryptically before walking away, leaving Naminé to sit down with a confused look on her face.

"Did you understand that at all?"

"Nope."

Kairi joined us soon after, and it turns out Riku Miyano was in our lunch hour as well. I don't talk to Riku much, but he's on good terms with Sora and Kairi, so I guess he's ok. He kinda reminded me of an emo pretty-boy at first – and this is when Sora would come in and call me a hypocrite, Heheh.

After waiting a bit to see if anyone else showed up, we ran off to get our lunches – everyone except Naminé, who had her own lunch. I think I was the first one to come back, and I started eating while everyone else came back, idly chatting with Naminé.

Right then, Axel decided to be a ninja for about ten seconds and sneak up on me. I didn't even realize my burger was gone until I saw Axel taking a bite out of it! Jerk. He laughed when I attempted to take it back – which wasn't going to happen since he was like, twice my height – and he ended up giving me his uneaten burger.

He's still a jerk.

So Axel turned our lunch table of four into five, and it turns out everyone got along pretty well – granted, after a few introductions. It seemed like this year wasn't gonna be as bad as I thought…

Yeah, right.

**~O~**

The half hour we had for lunch went by faster than we wanted it to, and pretty soon we were being dismissed to go back to our classes. After an hour of me doing nothing in our history class – except maybe talking to Namine for a while – I was off to fourth block.

Gym.

Probably one of my least favorite classes, right behind chemistry.

First day's just getting your locker assignments, so I ran into the locker room and claimed a locker, stuffed my gym clothes in, and locked it. After I came out, I scanned the gym for familiar faces, and seeing none, I ran up to the top of the huge bleachers for a bird's-eye view. Time passed, the bell rang, no luck. The only faces I recognized were Seifer and Fuu. Not that that helped me at all. At least they're in the upperclassman class.

I rested my head back against the metal railings behind me and closed my eyes.

I think I sort of fell asleep there. I don't remember exactly what I "dreamt" about, but I know it was a memory – from way back in middle school, when Xion and I went to Sunset Hills Junior High, and Axel would always protect us from the bigger kids. Then again, that was before Xion had moved…

Footsteps and voices woke me up, and I sighed. I was too tired to care, really, until I felt the bleachers vibrate when a few people decided to sit on either side of me. Two voices spoke, though I'm sure there were more people around.

"You think he's asleep?"

"Naah, look, he's smiling."

"Axel, Sora, bug off," I groaned. I reeeeeally wanted sleep. My head hurt.

"Are you _ever_ happy?" I heard Sora ask. I could tell he was pouting at me without looking at him – it was obvious in his voice.

"I _was_ happy, until you guys woke me up," I said, refusing to open my eyes to look at them, "Can I go back to my nap now?"

I heard one of them stand up and hop down one step to sit in the seat directly in front of me; from the sound they made when they jumped down, I could tell it was neither Axel nor Sora – it was too quiet, too light.

"Well, we brought you something that might make you happy…" Axel said. I could practically _hear_ the grin on his face.

"If it's not ice cream, I don't want it."

Right after that was when I heard someone stifle a giggle in front of me. A _girl_ giggle.

"Just look, Roxas," Sora encouraged. I could tell he was grinning too. I just sighed dramatically, sat back upright, and opened my eyes.

About six inches away from me was a pair of big blue eyes and a huge grin, framed by short blue-black hair. "Hiya, Roxas!"

I think you can guess my reaction.

"WHOAH, XION!?"

I jumped back in surprise, and ended up bashing my head against the metal rails. Painfully. Axel and Sora almost fell off their seats laughing – the jerks – while I rubbed the back of my head, wincing at the bruise I had left there. Xion, however, had lost the grin and jumped up to my bleacher, trying to get at the back of my head, apologies flying all over the place.

"Oh my god, _are you okay_, Roxas?? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have surprised you like that, it was my idea and –"

"XION!" I interrupted, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her a bit, "Calm down! I'm okay, jeez!" I used to have to do this a lot.

She looked a bit taken aback for a second, but then her smile returned and she hugged me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I hugged her back, mirroring her expression. "I missed you, Roxas," she said.

"I missed you too, Xion," I replied.

"Sorry to interrupt your_ lovely _heartfelt reunion, but there's a gym teacher around, and you know how picky they are with 'public displays of _affection_'," Axel warned, emphasizing the last few words with air-quotes.

Xion let go of me and smiled.

Not a grin, just… a smile.

Exactly like those we used to share before she left.

I remember those days that the three of us used to sit at the top of the clock tower after school, or on a bench at Sunset Hills, eating ice cream, talking about school, just spending time together.

I remember how everyone used to call us "inseparable," and you would never see one of us without the other two.

I remember our train trips down to the beach, Axel refusing to go into the water, and Xion and I splashing him just to get him to chase us into the water.

I remember Xion and I cheering Axel on during the struggle matches.

I remember the day Xion left, and how depressed Axel and I were for _weeks…_and how we never really got over it.

It wasn't until right then that I realized how much I had really missed her.

**~o~oOo~o~**

**Baww. I love reunions. 3**

**Again, sorry for the terribly late update, but school likes to be evil. I'm done with all my hard classes, though, so I'll have a lot more time to write chapters ^^**

**Roxas and Xion have been reunited, and the trio is complete again. Will it all go uphill from here? Or will new problems arise?**

**Next chapter already in progress! Stay tuned!**

**That review button is what encourages me to write more chappies. So….. CLICKIT!**


	4. Of Flags and Sunsets

**A/N: Again, so sorry for the extremely late updates. I blame my English class and its dreadfully long research papers… bah… The next update may be slightly faster, since school ends in a few weeks 3**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything related. Those belong to Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. **

**~o~oOo~o~**

The next few weeks were just life as usual, with the addition of Xion, of course. It kind of sucked that she didn't have the same lunch hour as me, but hey, what can you do? I wasn't complaining.

Long story-short: life was pretty good, I'm not gonna lie.

At least, until Mr. Stuart and the other gym teachers decided it would be fun for our classes to play "Capture the Flag." Some weeeird stuff happened that day.

Underclassmen against the _Upper_classmen. I was practically convinced the teachers were plotting our demise.

Right, right, back to the story.

So Mr. Stuart, with his shoulder-length hair and his surfer-dude accent – seriously, who _is_ this guy? – calls us all over after we get changed into our gym uniforms so he can take attendance. Xion comes and stands next to me as Mr. Stuart starts checking off names, and I acknowledge her with a nod and a smile. She smiles back.

"Alright, kiddos, listen up!" he calls, seriously overdoing the surfer thing, "the other teachers and I decided that today'd be more of a free day –" He paused as he was interrupted by loud cheers and sighs of relief. "Now hang on, lemme finish!" As soon as the chatter died down, he continued, "That doesn't mean we ain't doin' anything. We've decided…" Pause for effect. "…That we're going to play a friendly game of Capture the Flag with the _Upper_classmen."

The protests began at the word "game" and turned into a riot at "Upper." Apparently no one really wanted to get their butts kicked by the Seniors (which is what always happens…). Then again, who'd really _want_ to?

Apparently my disgust showed on my face, because Xion laughed. She sounded a bit nervous though; the idea must not have sounded very fun to her either. I held two fingers up to my head and pretended to pull an imaginary trigger in the traditional "kill me now" gesture; she laughed a little louder. Sora came up to us, looking like someone had just told him they were walking across a bed of nails instead of playing Capture the Flag. "WHYYY?" he whined, "Why do we have to play against the _Seniors!_"

"Because teachers are cruel and they want our ultimate demise!" I stated, making Sora's expression get even closer to terrified. I couldn't help but laugh at his face, and neither could Xion.

"It's not funny!" Sora complained, "We're all _dead!_"

"Since when were you a pessimist, Sora?" Xion pointed out, poking my brother's chest, "You're usually the happy one!"

"I know, I know! But not when—"

Mr. Stuart cut him off when he blew on his whistle, signaling for everyone to take their positions on either side of the gym.

"You all know the rules!" he called to both sides, "Run to the other side, grab a flag, and run back! Each side has three flags! As soon as you cross the line into opposing team territory, they are allowed to _tag you_! If you are tagged, you go to the jail! For a jailbreak, a member of your team must run _into _the jail! This will free all teammates, but the jailbreaker _must be left behind!_ There is _no rule breaking _allowed for _anyone!_ That means _you,_ Seniors!" The last rule was accompanied by protests from the Upperclassman side, but Mr. Stuart merely waved them off before raising the whistle to his mouth again. "Whoever has the most flags at the end of the class period wins! On your marks! Get set—!"

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

No one moved.

I looked across the gym and saw Axel just standing there with his arms crossed. He looked honestly bored; when I locked eyes with him I shrugged dramatically enough so he could see me, and he replied by holding two fingers to his head. When he mouthed "Kill me now," I laughed so loudly I got odd looks from people around me. Xion must've seen the exchange, because she laughed too… Until we saw someone streak across the center line into the Upperclassmen side. A quick glance was all we needed to tell who it was, and one thought popped into my head.

_Sora, you idiot!_

Almost all the underclassmen saw him bolt for the flags, and unfortunately, so did the Uppers. Lucky for Sora, he happens to be the same height as me – very short – so every upperclassmen that lunged for him missed. Sora looked like he was gonna make it to the first flag, but he tripped. Out of nowhere, he just tripped! There was no one around him; it was as if he had tripped on his own shadow. He faceplanted two inches from the flag. The nearest senior, a redhead girl, bounced over to him and poked his arm, declared him "tagged," and, after hauling him up to his feet, dragged him to the jail.

I facepalmed. I'm just glad I'm the _smart_ brother.

Xion turned and looked at me with an expression that screamed "Oops!," then ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "So… now what?"

"We need to plan a strategy," I said. "We could try sending out really fast people as decoys…"

"…and have sneakier people ninja around and steal the flags!" Xion finished. "That's an _awesome_ idea!" Xion held up her hand and I eagerly high-fived her. Just like the good ol' days. While Sora sulked in jail and both Uppers and underclassmen got tagged all around, Xion and I spread the plan. Eventually, everyone paired up, and started trying the strategy.

Some people got close. _Really_ close. But they'd always have to zip back to our side when five seniors would gang up on them. No one wants to get "tagged" by Seifer.

The weird part was that people kept _tripping. _I'm not kidding, people from _both_ teams would be running and all of a sudden, they'd just randomly trip and fall. Most of them got tagged, but a few, including Axel, managed to escape and run back.

After a while, when the score was back to an even 3-to-3, Xion and I decided it was time to make a run for the flags ourselves. Since I'm the faster one, I would go after the flag while she acts as my decoy. We both took off at the same time, and as we approached the dividing line, I slowed down and let her run ahead. As soon as she had caught the Uppers' attention, I veered off to one side, headed for the flag on the left side.

I was literally three feet from it when I tripped. I was just like what happened to Sora; I practically tripped on air. The flag was unguarded and there was no one around, so no one could've tripped me. Unlike Sora, however, I stuck my hands out on front of me so my face wouldn't meet the floor, and tucked into a roll so I wouldn't hurt myself.

I rolled over the flag and ended up _behind_ it with half the Uppers staring at me. Darn you, air!

In the few seconds I had to think between when the Uppers finally registered my presence and when they started moving towards me, I had to decide whether to take the flag or make a run for the other side, the _safe_ side. Right as Seifer broke into a deadly run towards me, a black-haired blur sped past me – right into the jail. A shrill whistle sounded, and every single underclassman that had gotten tagged was immediately freed. I took advantage of the confusion to grab the flag and get the hell out of there, and once I was safe on my own side, I waved it victoriously in the air. I gained both cheers and sneers – oh look, I rhymed! – and a thumbs up and a grin from Axel on the other side.

The score was now 4 to 2 – in favor of the underclassmen.

After I put the flag down and ran back up closer to the dividing line I ran into Sora, who grinned sheepishly at me. He then asked, "Hey, did you see who the jailbreaker was?" He looked slightly surprised when I shook my head, and pointed across the gym to the lone girl in the other team's jail.

I found myself staring at Xion on the other side. I raised my hands in a "What the heck?" gesture, and she just shrugged. _Guess she was just trying to save me from a horrible "tag," huh? I owe her for that now._

There were no more jailbreaks and no more flag-steals, though a few more people tried. A few minutes after the mass escape, Mr. Stuart blew his whistle and stopped the game, declaring that the underclassmen were the winners – much to the Uppers' dismay. Personally, I think they're just so used to winning that they've become sore losers.

Xion made her way back over to our side – well, more like skipped over, really – dragging Axel behind her with a huge grin on her face. "I can't believe we won!" she said when she got to me. "We sure showed them, right Roxas?"

"We wouldn't have if you hadn't ninja'd into the jail!" I laughed. "In all seriousness though, you really didn't have to do that. We could've switched roles right there and you could've run off with a different flag."

"Well…" Xion's eyes darted up to Axel, who just grinned at her. "It was a split-second thing. I guess I didn't think of it, that's all."

"Looks like you decided to be the hero, huh?" Axel teased, messing up Xion's hair, "_Someone's _gotta save the damsel in distress, you know."

"Hey!"

The three of us laughed. I'm gonna saound like I'm totally angsting right now,

"Well, anyway," I continued, "I still owe you for literally saving my life, Xion."

"You don' t have to do anything—" she began.

"How about this, hmm?" I looked at Axel, and he raised a curious eyebrow at me. "Ice cream after school, on me."

Both Xion and Axel's eyes lit up at my words, and I knew I'd made an offer they couldn't refuse.

**~o~oOo~o~**

By the time I reached the steps to the train station, I could see that Axel and Xion were already sitting at the top. And so, with a bag containing three Sea Salt ice creams, I ran up the steps and into the towering station, waving at the man in the ticket booth before heading for the stairs. It's a long climb, but it's always worth the effort when I know my two best friends are up there. Yeah, yeah, I know that sounded totally cheesy, but hey, it's the truth. I wouldn't run up six stories of steep stairs otherwise.

I stop and lean against the door to the outside so I can catch my breath; knowing Axel, he'd probably poke fun at my lack of athleticism (even though I can outrun him any day of the week, I just crash harder than he does).

After a few seconds, I open the door and step out onto the ledge, almost blinded by the sunset. Oh, how I love that sunset. Probably one of the best things about Twilight Town, even better than the ice cream. I slam the door to announce my arrival, and walk around the ledge to where my friends sit on the other side. As always, Xion was sitting farthest to the left, and Axel off to the right, saving me my usual spot in the middle.

Just the same as it always was.

I stepped onto the ledge and carefully sat down, trying to avoid a repeat of that near-death experience I had a few years ago.

"Well hey there," went Axel's greeting. I could tell he was staring hungrily at the bag in my hands, so I scooted a few inches away from him and held the bag up away from him, taunting him with it.

"Does Axel want some ice cream?" I asked in a sing-songy way, a huge Axel-like grin plastered onto my face.

"Yes, yes he does," he replies, reaching over to try to grab the bag out of my hand. I lean back, holding it further and further away from him until he'd have to climb over me to reach them. "Oh, come on, Roxas! This isn't funny!"

"Of course it is, it's hilarious!" The dismayed look on his face was priceless. I heard a giggle behind me and suddenly, the ice cream back was no longer in my hand. "_Xion!_ Why're you ruining all the fun?" I half-whine, putting on the whiny teen act.

"Beacause if I had to keep looking at Axel with that look on his face, I would've fallen off the clock tower!" she replied, smiling the whole time. I rolled my eyes and snatched the bag back, removing one of the blue treats from it and handing it to Xion.

"Here you go…" I trail off, then peer back inside the bag. "Huh. That's odd. I could've sworn I bought three…"

Axel's face went from impatience to complete and utter shock and dismay. "WHAT?"

Xion and I couldn't breathe from how hard we were laughing.

"Okay guys, _not_ funny," Axel said, crossing his arms, "I'm seriously considering shoving you two off this thing."

"But then no one'd give you free ice cream if we're dead!" Xion chirped.

"…Never sound that happy again."

"Aww."

I handed the second ice cream to Axel, then pulled out that last creamy treat for myself, setting the now-empty bag in the space behind me. The three of us silently agreed to simply eat our ice cream and stare at the sunset, just like we used to do years ago.

Xion was the first to finish her ice cream. She inspected the stick, and sighed upon finding that it was blank. "It's good to be home again," she remarked, looking back up at the sun. "You guys have no idea how much I missed you guys."

Axel finished his ice cream next. He turned to look at Xion and said, "Well, the two of us felt the same, you know?" he turned to me on his next sentence, "Right Roxas?"

I nodded, taking another bite out of my ice cream. I was almost done. "Of course I missed her, how could I _not_?"

Xion smiled. "Just making sure." She swung her legs back over the ledge and stood up, then reached down to grab the plastic bag I brought the ice cream in and tossed her stick in. "I gotta go, I have homework."

"You gonna be here tomorrow?" Axel asked, pointing his popsicle stick at her.

"I'll do my best!" she assured, then turned and went around the corner to the stairs, but not before waving goodbye.

Axel and I hung around for a while longer, just staring at the sun some more. A few minutes after Xion left, Axel stood up and stretched his arms, poked me with his popsicle stick, gave me a tired-sounding "See ya!" and left the rooftop. I was left to finish off my ice cream on my own.

Never looking away from the sun, I finish the blue treat and inspect the stick. Upon flipping it over, I saw that the word "Winner" and a small crown were inscribed on it.

"Huh," I said to myself, smiling at my prize, "Looks like today was a pretty good day, huh?"

Indeed it was, and there were more to come.

At least, before everything went wrong.

**~o~oOo~o~**

**Ooh, eerie end note. **

**I promise I'll update faster from now on, okay? D: **

**More fun stuff to come in the following chapter~! I think it'll be rather enjoyable :3**

**Reviews are appreciated 3**


End file.
